A proposed policy requiring all Lenawee County employees wear photo identification badges was sent back to the drawing board in a vote Wednesday depleted by three absent county commissioners.

The photo badge policy has been discussed for several years as a security enhancement for county offices. The only objection is from the prosecutor’s office over concern the badges could make its staff targets of violence.

A mandatory badge policy that included prosecutors was voted out of committee by a 5-3 majority on Tuesday. But only six of the nine county commissioners attended Wednesday’s session and split 4-2 in favor of the policy. Acting chairman Ralph Tillotson, R-Adrian Twp., ruled the motion defeated because it did not receive five votes.

The commission’s rules are not clear on whether enactment of a personnel policy needs a majority vote from the nine-member commission or only a majority of those present for a vote, said prosecutor Burke Castleberry.

“You have to decide whether it passed or it didn’t,” he said.

“Probably the safe thing to do is to rule that it did not pass and bring it back here next month when you have more commissioners present,” said county administrator Martin Marshall.

“If I have a choice, I say it didn’t pass until we get more information later,” said Tillotson. He and commissioner Chris Wittenbach, R-Clinton, voted against the policy.

The issue became more confusing when an amendment to exempt the prosecutor’s staff also received a 4-2 vote. Two commissioners who voted in favor of the policy on Tuesday said they mistakenly believed it included an exemption for prosecutors.

Commissioner Terry Collins, R-Adrian, said he would not vote for the policy if it required prosecutors to display photo badges in courthouse hallways where they could be vulnerable.

Commissioner James Driskill, R-Hudson, said he agreed an exemption is needed.

Tillotson said he voted against the policy because the commission has no way to enforce it.

“It’s not good, in my view, to do something like that and not have a way to police it,” he said. The commission also has no authority to order state and federal employees to wear photo badges while working in county buildings, he said.

State and federal employees already wear their own agencies’ photo badges at work, said commissioner Cletus Smith, R-Madison Twp. It is the county government employees who do not all wear badges, he said.